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INDICATOR NAME
Name
Life expectancy
Alternate Name
Life expectancy at birth
 
INDICATOR DESCRIPTION
Description
This indicator measures the number of years a person would be expected to live, starting at birth (for life expectancy at birth if the age- and sex-specific mortality rates for a given observation period (such as a calendar year) were held constant over his/her life span. A higher result is better. 
Indicator Status
Active
HQO Reporting tool/product
Public reporting
Dimension
Effective
Type
Outcome
 
DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION
Unit of Measurement
Years
Calculation Methods

This indicator is calculated as: the numerator divided by the denominator

Age- and sex-specific mortality rates corresponding to the reference period are applied to a hypothetical cohort, typically of 100,000. Starting at birth, the probability of dying at each age or age interval is applied to the number of people surviving to that age or the beginning of the age interval, respectively.

Numerator including inclusion/exclusion
Cumulative number of person-years lived, for a cohort of 100,000 persons
Denominator including inclusion/exclusion

Number of persons in an initial cohort of 100,000 live births

Exclusions:

  1. Births to mothers who are not residents of Canada
  2. Births to mothers who are residents of Canada whose province or territory of residence was unknown
  3. Deaths of non-residents of Canada
  4. Deaths of residents of Canada whose province or territory of residence was unknown
  5. Deaths for which age or sex of the decedent was unknown
Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- detailed
None
Data Source
Vital Statistics, Birth and Death Databases
Data provided to HQO by
Statistics Canada
Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)
International comparison, Region, Sex, Time
 
OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION
Caveats and Limitations
This indicator does not provide information on the individual causes of deaths or on quality of life.
Comments Detailed
1 Life expectancy and other elements of the life table, Canada, all provinces except Prince Edward Island, three-year average, Statistic Canada Table 13-10-0114-01 2 Life expectancy and other elements of the life table, Prince Edward Island and the territories, three-year average, Statistic Canada Table 13-10-0140-01 3. Life expectancy, at birth and at age 65, by sex, three-year average, Canada, provinces, territories, health regions and peer groups, Statistic Canada Table: 13-10-0063-01 (formerly CANSIM 102-4308) 4. For international comparisons, data is provided from OECD (2018), Life expectancy at birth (indicator). doi: 10.1787/27e0fc9d-en (Accessed on 22 March 2018)
 
TAGS
Sector
Other
Type
Outcome
Topic
Population Health
Dimension
Effective
Source
Vital Statistics, Birth and Death Databases
 
PUBLISH
Publish Datetime
19/11/2018 07:41:00